About Me

I am an artist living and working in Nashville, Tennessee. I have been painting professionally since 1990 and have completed over 400 commissioned portraits and numerous landscape, figurative, and still life paintings. Some of my current portrait commissions include: Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Senator and Mrs. Bill Frist, Senator Arlen Specter, Chief Judge Anthony Scirica, Chancellor Gordon Gee for Vanderbilt University, and President Theodore Roosevelt for the Ben Barnes Group Roosevelt House. A protegee of Everett Raymond Kinstler, I am also passionate about the work of John Singer Sargent, Sorolla, Zorn, Johansen, Flagg, Leyndecker, Serov, Repin, Beaux, and Cornwell, just to name a few. An active member of the National Arts Club, the Players Club, the Allied Artists of America, Portrait Society of America, the Audubon Artists, the Cumberland Society of Painters, the Artists Fellowship of New York, and the Exchange Club of Nashville.

Welcome!

Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy visiting from time to time. I will have fun posting information related to current projects, my travels, or just random thoughts! Feel free to post your comments anytime.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Remembering Senator Arlen Specter

When I first got the call to paint Senator Specter for Yale
Law School, I was instantly thrilled.Like many Americans who enjoy politics and C-Span TV, I had long known
of the famous Senator from Pennsylvania from his numerous interviews, Senate
floor speeches, debates, and magazine and newspaper articles. The longest
serving United States Senator from his the keystone state, he was a powerhouse
of intellect and a person of unwavering determination.“Snarlin Arlen” as he was known by reputation caused
more than a touch of reservation in me. I hoped I could connect with this
formidable senator in a way that would help me create a lasting portrait of the
man.Happily, throughout the
commission, I was surprised again and again by Senator Specter’s interest in
the portrait’s success and his personal thoughtfulness and loyalty.

Our initial introduction was not as fruitful as I had hoped.We met for dinner with his wife in a
particularly loud restaurant. Throughout dinner we all struggled to hear each
other’s conversations and were
interrupted again and again by passers by who wanted to speak to the
Senator.Meaningful conversation proved
impossible.We then walked to a
local theater where, finally… we engaged in a bit of small talk.I enjoyed the play, but at the
intermission the Senator said he would need to leave early.He had a busy Sunday morning with an
interview on a nationally syndicated television news show, a brunch at his home
with a few supporters and then posing for me the rest of the afternoon.Had you asked me how the evening had
gone I would have confessed I was not sure I had gained much for my portrait.Every moment with my sitter is research
and this night, although a privilege--- had not produced for me an accurate
impression of the man. The next day would prove to be totally the opposite.

I caught the interview on television the following morning,
and then headed to the Specter’s attractive home just outside Philadelphia.
There I found Senator Specter had arrived before me and had already begun speaking with several couples who had
come for a Q&A brunch event.He was beginning a campaign that would last more than two years ending
in his switching parties and ultimately his first defeat in 30 years of service
to the people of Pennsylvania.

After the last guest left, Senator Specter asked me out to
his patio sun porch and inquired as to just what I needed for our time
together.He was a bit short in
conversation and said “Ok, ok—let’s get on with it.I don’t have a lot of time.”So, I got to it--- beginning my photo shoot and discussing
the portrait. The painting was for Yale Law School and had been commissioned by some
friends to celebrate his 50th anniversary since graduating from Yale
Law.As we worked, he had an
intensity and focus that seemed perfectly right for his reputation.

During the process, Senator Specter said “I saw a portrait of the
mayor of Philadelphia in the late 1950’s and always liked the pose.He was looking down, arms crossed.What do you think about that kind of
pose for me?”I wanted to seize the
moment because I was in perfect agreement with him.I had been studying the Senator on television while the
floor of the Senate and had seen him in this pose before. “The pose is PERFECT
for you, Senator!”I said--- and
reinforced, “I have been watching you give floor speeches at the Senate.You strike that pose many times in a
thoughtful, meaningful stance---glasses in hand and glancing down just before
you make a point.It will show you
as poised, reflective, a man of exceptional, discerning intelligence----one of the greatest minds in the Senate in the last 100
years!”.With that, he looked at
me intently with the slightest hint of a grin and said, “What’s this business
about the last 100 years?”“You’re
right Senator!”I replied as
quickly as I could form the words. “What was I thinking? I should have said in
the last 220 years!”Putting his
hand firmly on my shoulder and looking me square in the eye he smiled and said, “We’re going to get along just
fine.”And so we did.From that time on, the moments and the
memories stack up a mile high.

The rest of the afternoon included a long and relaxed lunch prepared by Mrs. Specter. While sitting at their dinning room table, we swapped fun stories about people I had painted that he knew, his love of old slap stick comedy movies with the Marx Brothers, their travels around the world. Late in the day he shared with me his scrap albums covering years of his career from a prosecutor in Philadelphia in the late 1950's to his run for President, to his time in the Senate. He told me stories in great detail of his time on the Warren Commission following the assassination of President Kennedy, meetings with Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. What had started off as a clipped series of events eventually slid into a relaxing Sunday afternoon revealing a true picture of the man I was to paint.

In the months to follow, the Senator and Mrs. Specter visited my Nashville studio. We completed his portrait and enjoyed an amazing unveiling in the Constitution Center in Philadelphia for hundreds of his supporters, family and friends. Since that time I have seen the Senator on many occasions. Most recently this spring at a portrait unveiling. He always took time to chat.Even commenting on my hair style change and comparing to his own “loss of curls” in recent years. He and Mrs. Specter looked great and he was headed out to do
an all out blitz on his newly published book.

I can honestly say that he has had a special and lasting
impact on me.Some of it is
unexplainable and may be attributable to his own unique skill as a
politician---but, some of it I know is my sheer respect and admiration of
him.Watching him fight his
numerous bouts with cancer, all the while still getting up every day, shoes polished, tie perfectly knotted and pocket square neatly folded the same way for more than 30 years. With his devoted work ethic never missing a day on the floor of the Senate during
his treatments. Always intently focused on
the issues of the day and how he could make a difference, he was a tenacious and impressively unique guy in
every way. I will always be grateful andhonored that I had the opportunity to paint his portrait and know this remarkable man.